President Joe Biden’s planned visit to the LBJ Presidential Library on Monday was postponed following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump Saturday night. The event at which Biden was scheduled to speak was to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
The event will still take place but will be rescheduled for a later date in July due to these recent events. Biden has momentarily paused his campaign efforts in order to address the acts taken against Trump.
Although the LBJ Library event had to be postponed, Biden will be in attendance at the 115th NAACP National convention on Tuesday. In the meantime, the new date for Biden’s stop in Austin is pending. In a statement shared on Sunday, Mark K. Updegrove, President and CEO of the LBJ Foundation, provided more detail.
“Given the unfortunate events of the last 24 hours, we anticipated that the President’s schedule could change anytime,” he explained in a public statement. “We are honored President Biden remains committed to joining us at the LBJ Library to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, and we look forward to hosting him later this month.”
Beyond speaking at the event, Biden’s attendance is also a way for him to demonstrate to members of his own party his ability to maintain his presidential campaign. Since his first presidential debate against Trump, on June 27, many Democrats have raised fears that Biden’s age and health might make him unfit to serve another four years as president.
These doubts have led some to call for Biden to step aside from the presidential campaign. House representative, Democrat Lloyd Doggett, who represents an Austin district, was the first member of Congress to speak up against Biden’s run for a second term.
Since Doggett’s first public statement about the matter on July 2, he has continued to push this message. Doggett has compared this election, and the decision Biden may possibly make, to Lyndon B. Johnson’s decision to not run a second term in 1968. Prior to the event being canceled, on July 11, Rep. Doggett envisioned it as a prime opportunity for the President to step out of the race.
“I believe that President Biden has a unique opportunity this Monday night in my hometown of Austin, Texas … to follow the example of President Lyndon Johnson, putting country ahead of self and make the difficult and painful decision…to say that he will step aside, continue to do the duties of president, but let someone else take on Donald Trump and devote their full energy to protecting our democracy,” he said.
According to USA Today, as of 2 p.m EDT on Friday, 19 Democratic lawmakers, one U.S. senator and 18 U.S. House representatives have publicly said Biden should step aside.
Not only have more lawmakers spoken up since Doggett but so have some public figures, like actor and Democratic party supporter George Clooney. Just last month, Clooney co-hosted the single largest fundraiser supporting a Democratic candidate ever, raising $30 million dollars for the Biden campaign. Due to quickly-growing worries in the Democratic Party, many people like Clooney who had been dedicated to the Biden campaign, appear to have changed their minds.
On Wednesday of last week, Clooney wrote a column that appeared in the New York Times titled “I Love Joe Biden. But We Need A New Nominee.”
The piece, which addressed Biden’s accomplishments and efforts to lead America, didn’t undermine his achievements, but instead contributed and highlighted the efforts being made by Democratic leaders to ask Biden to step aside and make way for a stronger democratic candidate. Clooney wrote that although many Democrats have spoken out publicly, there are more in private that feel the same wat.
“This isn’t only my opinion,” Clooney wrote. “This is the opinion of every senator and congress member and governor that I’ve spoken with in private.”
Clooney ended the editorial calling for a counterintuitive approach to the Democrats and Biden’s traditional election plan.
“Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024,” he wrote.
As more Democratic members join the attempt to change plans, Biden says he is holding strong to his word, saying he is fit to win the presidency and that he believes he is the strongest candidate against Trump.
Despite losing some supporters, contrary to statements made by Clooney, not all Democratic lawmakers are against Biden’s re-election.
In a guest essay with the New York Times, published on Saturday, Senator Bernie Sanders calls on the Democratic party to unite in support of Biden and focus more solely on the big picture, not the concern caused by Biden’s poor debate performance.
“For over two weeks now, the corporate media has obsessively focused on the June presidential debate and the cognitive capabilities of a man who has, perhaps, the most difficult and stressful job in the world,” he said. “The media has frantically searched for every living human being who no longer supports the president or any neurologist who wants to appear on TV. Unfortunately, too many Democrats have joined that circular firing squad.”
Sanders continued the column discussing what’s at stake for Democrats and the country during this year’s election, touching on many strong issues that Biden has supported and acted upon during his time in office. Sanders attempted to show readers that he believes Biden is set to continue this work for four more years, but will not be able to if his own party is not fully committed to his re-election campaign.
“Enough! Mr. Biden may not be the ideal candidate, but he will be the candidate and should be the candidate,” Sanders said. “And with an effective campaign that speaks to the needs of working families, he will not only defeat Mr. Trump but beat him badly. It’s time for Democrats to stop the bickering and nit-picking.”
Following the events of the past few days that diverted attention from this controversy, it seems to be picking back up again, as the Republican National Convention kicks off in Milwaukee. With Trump making his first public appearance since Saturday’s assassination attempt and announcing his pick for Vice President, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, Democrats seem to be scrambling to calm the worries of the public as well as many prominent Democratic members, who fear Biden’s run for president not only for the country, but for the sake of their position in office.
We will update this story when a new date and time for Biden’s LBJ Library address is announced or if his status as a candidate changes before then.
